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Hi!
He is doing a great job with the pillowcase here! We can get him offering more so you don’t have to help as much: Try to be completely still while he is figuring out what to do – he was half thinking about the pillow case, half watching your motion 🙂
You can see him tracking your cookie hand and thinking that watching the hand might be part of it. So the next step is to stand up more and just casually have your hands in front of you, letting him make all the moves – then click and throw the cookie when he hits the pillow case. You can have the pillow case a little further away so he can’t be on it and watch your hand at the same time – he is very clever 🙂
Excellent tug breaks before and during the session! Yay!
Another fun shaping game to get him offering more behavior without you needing to move is to shape him to get into a box. The box should be low enough that it is easy to get into, and big enough that he easily fits 🙂 And then you can reward him for interacting with the box by dropping a treat into it!
He also did great with the drive to handler – it looks like he found it VERY easy 🙂 Super! He was nice and tight when you added the pivot too. Since this went so well, the next step is to try this in a bigger area – that way you can toss a treat and when he goes to get it, you can start jogging away. Then as he starts heading towards you, you can decelerate and cue him to come to your side then pivot. And you can use an empty cookie hand then tug as the reward 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Aha! Watching both of these, I see why she goes to the most direct route to the dish 🙂 The stillness game is all about focus on the dish – and when the dish gets to the other side of the cone, the context is almost entirely the same (including being held similarly) that she thinks it is the go-to-dish game.
So, we can’t use the bowl for both right now (maybe eventually but she’s too inexperienced and I don’t want to confuse her). You can use a toy for the cone game for now! I do use a bowl a lot but there is a ton of balance so in each session, we are showing when we want the bowl and when we don’t, so it doesn’t become all about going to the bowl when it is present 🙂 And stay tuned for some fun stay games coming up too!
Tracy
Good morning!
She definitely thought the tunnel game was fantastic! You can reward her for running back through it to you too (it was hard to see if she was getting a reward there or not on those) – the reward can be partially for doing the tunnel, and partially as a way to line her up again. There is a lot of pressure on the dogs when we are bent over and holding their collar, so adding cookies for the lineup will make it smoother and easier to line her up without moving her by the collar.
To continue strengthening the verbal, you can hold her til after she hears the tune verbal 3 or 4 times, then let go of her collar. That will also help as you add the harder angles and the threadle approach where she has to turn away from you.
>she decides to stare lovingly into my eyes instead of looking at the tunnel LOL>
Yes! And she doesn’t have to look forward yet, as long as she ends up going to the correct spot. Sometimes the pups look at us or away from us as a way of coping with the excitement and arousal of it all 🙂
The handling combos are going great!
>She is definitely the righty so the left took a bit of work but we got there.>
A side preference is totally normal at this stage. Maybe the video is reversed or I need more coffee, but it looks like the left turns were stronger here –
Her send to the barrel looks really strong on the left turns which is setting you to be able to get the decel easily. You can add a full 360 on. The pivoting then a go go go long the driveway away from the barrel – with a thrown toy or ball. I think she will love that 🙂
The right turn wraps are not as comfy for her yet – try to connect more and point towards it less. When you are pointing ahead, the big point actually turns your feet & shoulders away from the line to the barrel. If yo look directly at her eyes and support the line with a leg step to the side of the barrel you want and a low arm swoosh that follows her nose, you will see that you are facing the barrel more and she will go to it more easily on the harder side. You can see that 6:40 and 6:59, for example – you were looking at her more and pointing less, so she got it more easily.
> I’m using Wing for when she enters off the left side (so a right turn for her) and Wrap for when she enters off the right side (so a left turn for her). What do you think of these?>
The verbals are great! Wrap is perfect – you might need to run around without her yelling WING and ING and see if it sounds the same? We want them to be different sounding so she has no questions.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
>I tired cheddar cheese bits and he ate them>
Yay for cheddar!!! Yum!
Looking at the SSC game:
He did great with the food bowl – I think there was even food in your pointing hand on some reps and he went right past it! One blooper where he tried to go directly to the bowl, but the might have had was a ‘aha!’ moment where he realized going around the cone was the gateway to the bowl 🙂 Yay! Only one suggestion here is to move your pointing hand further from the wing, so he sees you show the line but there is a little more room for him to choose to go directly to the bowl without your arm there (or go around the cone and get rewarded.
The first reps with the toy went great!
Toy play is more “expensive” for puppies (burns more fuel in the brain & body) so it is possible he only has a couple of reps in him of toy play as part of a thinking game (this is definitely a thinking game). So you can start with one or two toy reps, then take a tug break (and no cookies needed for the out, you can just let the toy get ‘dead’ til he lets go of it) – and come back to do the cookie reps for the rest of the session.And it is ok if you don’t do a lot of self-control with toys… we want him to be *wild* for toys so you can let him have almost no self-control when it comes to them LOL!
The barrel wrapping went great! Tons of success with you standing – he was looking at his line and not up at you for just about every step here. You might notice that after about 1 minute and 20 seconds, his responses got less ‘snappy’ and that is when he slid between you and the barrel. That probably means he needed a break in the session – that was a lot of reps in a row of the same thing! So you can do maybe 30 seconds then break it off and do other things (like run around with the toy).
We are now leaving this game, and tomorrow we add the next step which is a lot more exciting!
>We did another session of Plankrobatics with the treat tossed ahead. I think this helped to keep him looking forward & where he was going & not at me.>
Totally agree! The session looked strong! It was a lot more efficient for him to look ahead, so he decided he was totally on board with that plan 🙂 Yay! He is super confident on the plank so you can add in having him hop off in the middle of it – that way he knows how to balance if he needs to get off the plank, and that helps him understand it is perfectly fine to jump off if he needs to (better than falling off!)
He was definitely interested in gong to the prop without you – he was starting without you on some reps LOL! And his responses to the sideways and the backwards sending were super snappy even with distractions in the environment. This is perfect timing because we add the next levels of this tomorrow too! Yay!
Great job on these!!! Stay tuned for all the new stuff coming tomorrow!
Tracy
Good morning!
>not only do you share the how to but the why, the emotion & everything else. >
I love to nerd out about that stuff, and understanding what is going on in their puppy brain & body makes a big difference in how we train them 🙂
>I hope I get to train with you in real life someday!>
Yes please!! That would be so fun!
>I dragged out the wobble board on a laminate floor so it would make noise. We did some circles so it would really bang LOL no issues at all! Check that off the list>
Excellent!!! Revisit it here and there, maybe once a week, so she maintains her love of it all the way through adolescence.
>“Going well until it didn’t” basically sums up puppy training LOL! this was really funny & made me feel OK that things went sideways and will continue to go that way from time to time >
100% true! And remember this when she is a teenager:”Going well until it didn’t” basically describes training with adolescent dogs too LOL
Looking at her toy races video:
Yes, her toy drive is definitely NOT broken LOL! Great session! Even in a small space and with her short puppy legs, she was able to win the races. And spending more time on the play and less time on the ‘work’ is ideal!!! Love it!!! She is very aware of cookies coming out – when you reached for your pocket, she immediately watched the magic cookie hand and didn’t tug as much. At 1:43 it looked like your hand was maybe possibly moving to the pocket so she stopped tugging (starving puppy haha) So you can use your trade word before reaching for the cookie so she doesn’t end the tug game before you do – and keep the toy really active too!
Looking at the wing wrap video:
She loved playing with the squeaky toys at the start here! And retrieving them! She is definitely teething, trying to chew the cone LOL! It was good to end the session, and we will approach toy play with the wings a little differently.
For this stage of the wing wrap, where you are stationary – no need for toys at the moment because I think they will be too stationary for her. The next step which involves running is posted tomorrow, and we will use that game to get her hopped up on toys for wing wrapping too 🙂Great job here!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>Today we did two runs at the fun run. >
What a fantastic opportunity to bring him into a challenging environment and play fun games!! Wow!
I love how you ran in and got right into the party – he loved the toy races and the drive to handler games, and did great going from food to toys.
>There was a little distraction and also crumbled treats that didn’t help for disconnection.>
I think he got depleted, meaning he got mentally tired. It is possible that after the initial blast of energy, he got brain tired and needed a quieter game with treats. Ignoring all of the distractions is ‘expensive’ on a puppy brain (burns a lot of oxygen and glucose, and then needs a recovery period). He is really young so depletes pretty fast!
The interesting thing here was that the depletion happened on both turns at 1 minute and 15 seconds into the turn. He was full blast for that time then needed a break. That makes sense, based on his age – he can’t go for a long time and be mentally engaged. And if you think about it: 75 seconds is the length of 2 or 3 full jumpers runs, so that is a long time!
> We only had one dog between these sessions and it was his friend the 6 month old BC that we did the rental with. He did well with her being outside the ring>
Even the short time between his sessions allowed him to recover. So you can shorten the time in the ring in these kinds of events – set a timer for 30 seconds and keep the high energy stuff to 30 seconds. Then maybe lower the energy and do some hand touches for treats, or lineups for treats, for another minute or so.
His ability to work at home will last much longer because his brain doesn’t burn as much fuel trying to process all of the stuff in the environment as he has to do in a ‘trial’ environment, so keeping the sessions short and sweet (the length of one run LOL) will really help at this age.
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning! These sessions looked really good!
On the Wind In Your Hair video, she did not want to drive ahead into the RC on the right turn side. She was turning left to look at you. It indeed could have been the ball changing hands was distracting, but it also could have been that the info was changing sp she turned to her left to see it. And the left turn RCs looked great! So perhaps it ws partially a ball-in-hand question, and partially a side preference question and she is a lefty 🙂 When you revisit it, start with the left turn RCs and see how she does – then try to right turn RCs. You might need to place the reward on the correct line to get the right turn RCs, and that is perfectly fine to do to help her sort out the turn.
>I was feeling so awkward getting connected to her for the slice jumping. Kyla did a few reps with her and I saw she was rotating both hands, which seemed to get her better connection.>
On the proofing game, the upper body rotation on the serp and threadle looked good here – you will feel it in your waist because that is where most of the turn is produced. It might feel like you are rotating enough to show both hands, because that really opens up the connection. She read them really well!
And a big gold star for the last rep when she drove to the tunnel with the strong verbal. Super! You can keep adding motion to this, and changing her angle a little bit too!
She is also doing well with the ladder grid! Her jumping in the gaps looks really good – lovely form and head position. She has a question right before jump 1, because she was a set up a little too far from it to get a good hind end push off. You can see her approach to 1 was a bit disorganized (changing front foot position) at :09 and :35 (hit the bar) and :49. She was not disorganized at :22 and :28 but she did do a front foot tap before jump 1 on those 2 reps. Ideally, she doesn’t touch the ground with her front feet before jump 1 after she starts moving, so you can move her start position closer to the jump – the sweet spot might be getting her front feet approximately one hands-width away from the jump, so she is closer and has to push off from her hind end more and won’t need front foot involvement til after she lands.
Looking at the diamond game: excellent job with your connection after the tight blinds!!! Perfect connection there! Your timing at :41 was perfect and she read it brilliantly (left turn). I thought your timing at :14 and :24 was also super good, but those were right turns so it was harder for her to organize. She was a definite lefty in these sessions 🙂
The race tracks are also looking really good! The one oopsie was at 1:03 when you went too close to the wing then ended up pulling away, which turned her off the line to the tunnel entry. Being connected and a little further away like you were on the other side set up great lines.
Nice work here!! Stay warm!
Tracy
Good morning!
>t’s funny that for months Aelfraed has said he’s a lefty but just in the last 2 weeks he has suddenly switched and said that right is easier. >
Interesting! Adolescence is certainly a wild ride LOL!
>Today Aelfraed was having an overall mad day. He was mad that I didn’t get him out of his crate swiftly enough in the morning, then mad that it was way too cold outside and he couldn’t stay out as long as he would have liked, tHe continued to be mad later and was more annoyed than he has been recently about waiting subsequent turns. He was also even mad in his car crate when we left the training facility (not normal).>
Weird! But also… adolescence is a wild ride 😂 They get extra fidgety and emotional, and maybe something was going on like a slightly upset stomach or disrupted sleep – enough to tilt him to be mad, but not enough that he had any other signs.
>hen really really mad that he got left in the car when we arrived at the training facility while both Sól and Lennan worked before he got his first turn. >
Seems rude, according to Aelfraed. LOL!!
>Considering his anger, I made a poor choice of first game as I decided to do the serp proofing game on the opposite side. >
Looking at the proofing video – the reps here were very good! He was very successful even with motion and different angles added. Was the poor decision part of it that he was breaking the stay? You can totally make the stay out and start him on a platform if that helps, or toss a treat away (or use the Treat n Train) to set up the start position.
> there was a lot of sassing the mama (removed from video) about coming back to set up again. >
This is where a good ol’ lure helps – you can use a cookie in your hand to led him back, letting him nibble. Sometimes a lure saves the moment with adolescents.
>Some of the reps start from a down and not exactly the positioning I was going for as he absolutely refused to sit and huffed himself down instead. Probably should have just moved on from this one sooner but he wanted to do the equipment so I thought he’d get happier about the game (I was wrong).>
Not wanting to sit might be a bit of something not 100% feeling good so you saw it manifest there. Or it ight also be the super fidgety/frustrated feeling that a lot of humans also get during the winter when we don’t have as much access to sunshine and the great outdoors (lots of science on how good this is!) For me, it is a weird fidgety feeling as if I have had too many cups of coffee. Dogs are tuned in to our daily cycles so while there are no studies that I know of about canine daily cortisol levels and melatonin levels, it certainly makes sense they would also be disturbed like our human levels can be at this time of year.
You can also plan to have running games as your first game of the session – more running, less thinking, so he can blow off some steam. Winter is HARD for young dogs in general (not a lot of sunshine and time to romp) and this winter has been particularly challenging.
He did well on the ladder grid – it was a wise choice to take the stay out of it 🙂 And I am glad he was happy to be held! His form is good! And consistent! Consistency in form is sometimes underestimated – we don’t want one good rep then a bunch of crazy reps haha!! We want the same good form in all reps, which is what you got here. His head can be a little lower, I think. But that was probably due to the toy moving as you released. You can start dragging the toy for 3 or 4 steps then release him, so he is more locked onto it as he moves through the grid.
The rear crosses went great! This might be a good game to do first thing because there is running and it is easy for him. The rear crosses went well on both sides – great timing especially on the left turn side!!
For the backside wraps – you are correct, this is the first time we put them on an actually jump. He did great! Your line of motion was very clear so he knew to go to the backside each time. Super! To get him to commit to the jump: shift your connection away from his face and to looking at the landing spot (you can also point to the landing spot with the arm closer to the jump). And toss the reward so it lands right near the landing spot. That will help him know where to look to complete the commitment.
The diamond is another good one for starting a session because it is al running and not a lot of thought needed.
The tight blinds are going really well! The 2nd and 3rd reps were nicely timed, so he had nice tight turns there.
When he didn’t go to the wing after the blind at :25, I think you were blocking the line a bit. You were a step further away at :35 so he could see it clearly and zippers right around it.
The race tracks are also going really well! His commitment looked good! You might have felt him be a little sticky going to the tunnel at 1:07 – that was because that tunnel entry was slightly offset from the line (not a straight line for him) so he checked to be sure it was correct and also he had to sort out the lead change away to get the tunnel. Good boy! The tunnel on the other side was on a straight line from the race track, so he was not sticky at all at 1:32.
He only had one question about the line, at 1:19 – as you took off up the line, too much shoulder rotation with you ahead which looked like the beginning of a blind (connection break) and with you laterally away from the wing, he came of off it and toward you. Good job continuing and rewarding after the tunnel! You were more connected and stayed closer to the line on the last rep, and he was perfect. Super!!!
Great job here!! Stay warm!
Tracy
Good morning!
Super nice run with Benni!Yes, the lead out push at 2 is a form of a serp, and you did a lovely job with the arm back – and while you moved, you held that arm back long enough that he picked up the turn to 3. Then you released the arm and ran normally again. Nice! In this case, you did swing the arm back a bit. You might not need to, or you might swing it back on both the serp and threadle. As long as you are consistent, the dogs will get it right. But we would also want to proof them coming in based on poison and verbal, so you don’t need to be perfect with the arm movement.
>I thought I was supposed to set him up close to the first jump?>
Up close, yes, about 6 inches away. On the rep where he was too close, it looked like an inch away which doesn’t give a lot of room to lift his front feet.
> So when I try it again with the long toy and leading out more, should I still just use 3 jumps or add one?>
3 jumps is good for now. No need to expand it until you can get out on grass. We have other grids coming that have 3 jumps too.
>What do you think I should focus on when I get home from the trial before week 5 begins? I couldn’t do the diamond game or any other game that needs much more space. I was bummed not to be able to do the “find the jump” game. Do you think I could modify that somehow in my basement?>
Since the tunnel is what takes up the most space on those games, you can replace the tunnel with a cone or two cones pushed together. That will allow you to set up both of those games in a smaller space and will transfer with no problem to when you do have room for the tunnel outside.
Have fun!
Tracy
>
Good morning!
I am glad to hear that things went well at the seminar! I think there were several MaxPups there along with you and Dot!
>I sound grumpy but I promise I’m just tired.>
You don’t sound grumpy at all!
>I do have to practice using a leash! We did the seminar off leash but we will need one in the real world. >
Yes, so true!! That is why I play a lot of the resilience games on leash, because it duplicates the real world experience.
>We got to use our resilience attention game and we learned a toy even in a cooler is very hard. That’s a goal for our resilience game.>
The toy on the ground or in a cooler can be part of the novel-exciting element of the SSC games (which can also use the pattern game). It might have been extra hard because she was also in a new environment so her brain was processing a LOT and that is when impulse control can sometimes wane especially in early adolescence.
For the stay work:
The vocalizing might have been a bit of frustration: is it a sit or a stack, human? It seemed to happen as she was moving into the sit. I don’t mind vocalizing but you will want to delay the reward for several seconds at least, so she does not think the vocalizing is what you are marking and rewarding.And you can also help her with her question about sit versus stack by cueing it. It can be a verbal sit cue, or a hand cue. That can clarify things so she doesn’t have any frustration. And you can add in praise before the reward now too. We will be adding motion soon as well.
>I worked on the resilience game moving but I’m not sure if that was right. Should she make eye contact while I’m moving or when I stop? I ended up stopping to make it easier.>
When you are moving, she should be engaging while you are still moving. Eye contact might be hard when you are both moving but you can reward engagement towards you (looking at you even if it is not perfect eye contact).
I think what was also happening was she thought you wanted her to offer stuff when you were moving towards different spots, perhaps because she has offered behavior in that location before.When you stopped moving, she knew it was not a cue to offer any other behavior.
What you can do to add more movement is to put her on a leash and take her out to a spot in front of the house where she has no experience offering other behavior. That adds the leash in as a real world opportunity, and takes out any offering of other behavior from previous sessions 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
I think the weather has been interfering a bit: cold, gross, windy… You are not that far behind at all! You can keep working through the games and you will find it is easy to catch up. The games build on each other, plus there are some “easy” weeks ahead where we don’t add as much new stuff so folks can catch up or review. And there is extra time at the end to cover anything you didn’t get to.
T
Good morning!
His wraps are going really well! He seemed to turn well in both directions – maybe his left turns were a little more fluid? But he was happy going to both sides and loved playing with the toy. Yay!
You can start closer to the barrel with him at your side, so he has a clear idea of when to stick to you versus when to go to the barrel. When he knew when to start (hand/leg pointing to the barrel) he was quite zippy going to it! So starting right next to it with him at your side, then giving the big cue will get him having a clear start moment.
For the next session, add a line on the ground to tell you when to do the FC and run away. You were waiting for hi to just about exit the barrel before doing the FC and that was perfect for the first session. Start with that for a rep or two in the next session with the line right where he would exit the wrap: then move the line further from you and to before he exits the wrap (just by about 6 inches at first) – when he arrives at the line on the ground while wrapping, that is your cue to do the FC. And after a successful rep or two, move the line another 6 inches so you can do the FC even sooner! That will help get the FCs earlier and earlier 🙂
Great job!
Tracy
Good morning!
She did well with the plank wobbling a bit! Hopping onto it and getting off – no problem!
>I think she liked it LOL>
I agree! A good indicator that it is rewarding for her to do this was when she came running back to the plank each time you released her to go get a cookie. Yay!
Sitting? No problem! Down? No problem! Turning around was hard for maybe the first rep of each side – going in a full circle s hard to balance but then she got it really well later in the session. As long as you keep the hand lure slow and low, she can balance and do the full turn.
>SSC folding was going so well until it didn’t. >
“Going well until it didn’t” basically sums up puppy training LOL! 😂😝
She definitely likes this game too! It is easy peasy when the dish is right on the line, halfway around, and more than halfway around. Perfect! So let’s look at the cutting in:
It is possible that the ‘dish’ marker is too early here so she thought you wanted her to go to the dish. Even though it is a new marker, she might recognize the context of “when da momma says a thing, it means go to the dish”. Here is why that might be the possibility: At 1:22, it looks like she was going to the cone and then you said dish while she was till a couple of steps away from the cone (so she went to the dish).
At 1:39 and 1:56 you said dish as you released her, so she went to the dish.So for the next session, don’t say ‘dish’ until she is definitely at the cone, maybe halfway around it – then mark the decision to do the cone behavior with the dish marker.
The other thing that can help is if you are closer to the cone: that way it is easier to see the line to the cone and follow the hand cue – and less room for her to cut in 🙂
If you still have the videos from previous sessions, feel free to post them so we can see if the marker timing is indeed her question.
The prop game went well! She still has a ton of value for the prop and wants to hang out at the prop (this bodes well for getting a lot of distance later in her training :)) She was driving back to you a lot better here because the yes marker and presentation of the food was enticing and fun! You can also use a tug toy in this game. That way when she hits the prop, you can bring her back for a game of tugging that will get her driving back even faster.
>I think I broke my puppy LOL! Her toy play has kinda left the room. I don’t know if it’s the time of day (befere or after breakfast/dinner), if I’m using her kibble first for training then (trying to) use a toy, me – my mechanics or what really. >
It could be time of day (hangry!) coupled with the presence of food, so her food drive is overriding the toy play. It could also be mechanics and type of toy: if the toy is not moving or is too small (close to your hands or you are bending over), she might not be as interested in tugging. You can tie the toy to something long (like another toy) so you can keep it moving away from her, drag it around for her to chase, etc. but don’t lift it up or crank her chin upwards when she is holding the toy.
And use a really high value toy, and boring treats 🙂 Most of my dogs are PIGS 🐷 for food, so I never train them on an empty stomach: they might get part of their meal then a bit later, I train with food. That helped balance the food drive with toy play, and also gets better responses because they are not distracted by their hunger 🙂
She might also be teething, so use long soft toys that are easy to grab.
>Silly question, she is playing alot more with my older dog lately, is that jepordizing her play with me? >
Not really, but also that might be giving her enough toy play that she is tired when you want to play (or mouth is sore because of teething). But also, it gives you a good idea of how she likes to play. I bet the older dog is keeping the toy low and moving it (or trying to pull it) away, rather than towards her. So you can learn about Sunnie’s play preferences from her play with the other dog, but you can also limit it so that the really great tug toys are only for you and her to play with together 🙂
Great job here!
Tracy
Good morning!
I am glad the beef is helping him feel good! The Fold It In session went great !
>I still need to work on my mechanics for timing around the cone.>
I thought the timing of your bowl marker was spot on – you were marking when he was definitely going to the cone and not just to the bowl 🙂 You can also add your wrap verbal when you let him start moving.
He did really well here – only one question on your left side, when the bowl was very visible and he tried to cut through between you and the cone. He got it on the next rep though and the reps after that!
He was definitely excited to go around the cone, so you can try to lure him into position at your side with a treat rather than pull him – it is hard to lure when sitting, so you can toss a treat behind you and then after he gets it, have him come to your side.
>I did a little too long with the food and need to watch that also.
One way to do fewer reps with food is to limit the treats you have with you: bring 5 cookies, do 5 reps, then it is easy to break things up because you have to go get more cookies 😂 😝 And in that moment you can play tug, to keep things exciting (or do a few reps with the tug then get more cookies).
Great job here!!! Have a blast at the fun run!
Tracy
